The GST Council meet scheduled on August 5 will finalise a mechanism to operationalise anti-profiteering clause which seeks to protect consumers' interest, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the lok Sabha on Tuesday. He was replying to the discussion on Demand for Supplementary Grants.
Countering Opposition charges, the Finance Minister said demonetisation has led to squeezing of terror funds, including in Jammu &Kashmir.
Initiating the discussion, Congress MP K C Venugopal wanted to know from the government how much demonetised currency has been deposited in the banks, how many new notes have been printed so far and how much black money has been unearthedIJ
The Government had claimed that demonetising 500 and 1000 rupee notes was a "surgical strike" on black money and it would help get rid of fake currency and lead to decrease in terrorism. "However, the actual impact was opposite," he said. Venugopal said that RBI Governor has twice failed to disclose the quantum of demonetised currency that has come back to the system and is saying that counting is still going on.
Referring to issues raised by Opposition MPs on the implementation of GST, Jaitley said the GST Council comprising state finance ministers will meet on August 5 to take stock of implementation of GST which was rolled from July 1.
Referring to concerns raised by members with regard to impact of GST on prices, Jaitley said it would be mandatory for manufacturers to pass on the benefits of reduction in taxes to consumers. He hoped that the decision of price cut by automobile sector on account of benefit of input tax credit would be followed by others manufacturers. "What if input tax benefit is not transfered to consumersIJ...We are meeting a few days from now...In a short while, we are going to finalise the entire mechanism as far as anti-profiteering is concerned, he said.